Security News > 2020 > December > ACLU sues US govt, demands to know if agents are buying their way around warrants to track suspects' smartphones

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the US government, claiming Homeland Security agents trampled over people's constitutional rights - by buying phone location data from commercial brokers rather than getting necessary search warrants.

"These practices raise serious concerns that federal immigration authorities are evading Fourth Amendment protections for cell phone location information by paying for access instead of obtaining a warrant," the ACLU said in a statement this week.

In 2018 the Supreme Court ruled in the Carpenter v. United States [PDF] case that law enforcement agencies could not obtain personal information, including location data, from smartphones unless they had a valid search warrant.

One company, Venntel, was identified by Senate staffers as a data broker to the US government, in that it sold people's locations without requiring warrants be issued, the ACLU claims.

"More than nine months after we submitted a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, DHS, CBP, and ICE have yet to provide us with a single responsive record," the ACLU stated.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/12/03/aclu_phone_location/